Warning! Uber Scams and Hacks to Watch out for

Any time there’s money changing hands, you’re going to have to be on the lookout for scammers. If you’ve ever sold anything online on Craigslist, or if you’ve bought something off the street, you always have to be careful about what you’re getting, or who you’re dealing with. Driving for Uber is no different, and today’s video is actually a warning about Uber scams and hacks to watch out for.

Check out the video, and read the video transcript below if you prefer to read.

The number of scams targeting drivers is increasing

I’ve seen a huge increase in the number of emails that I’ve gotten from drivers, and they’re all reporting people pretending to be from Uber. They ask for email log-in credentials, passwords and more. Now, this isn’t thousands of drivers that are emailing us, but I would say that it’s a few here and there, so it’s definitely the most important thing to keep in mind now it’s a lot more than I’ve seen in the past.

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I used to get very few emails like this, if ever, and now, it seems like almost on a weekly basis I’m hearing from at least one or two drivers who this has happened to and it’s a pretty scary situation. Because you guys work hard for your money, so it would be awful to lose it all at the hands of a scammer and then have to deal with Uber to get it back.

An example of the scams you might run into

There’s a few ways this goes down, but typically, what happens is that you’ll be driving for Uber, you get a ride request from a passenger, and then you get a call from someone claiming to work from Uber. They’ll ask you to verify your email, sometimes they’ll ask you to answer your security question. They may also say something like, “You should cancel the ride that you’re on, and we’ll pay you anyway.”

The thing that you have to realize is that when a passenger requests a ride, they can now call you. What’s happening is that a lot of these scammers are posing as riders, and then they can call you through the voice-over IP number, and they’re pretending to be Uber that way. Since a lot of drivers aren’t as familiar with how the system works, some of them are unfortunately falling for it, so there are a few flags up if this happens and what you should watch out for.

When Uber will or won’t call you

Now, the first thing is that Uber and Lyft won’t ever call you to tell you to cancel a ride or ask for your log-in credentials. They’re never going to call and ask for that information. Uber and Lyft primarily communicate through email, through an in-app messenger, and if they do ever call you, it probably is in response to something. Let’s say you got into an accident, or let’s say there’s some type of safety incident, Uber may give you a call. Now, if you’re ever unsure, you always have the option of calling them back on the 24/7 support line and getting your help that way.

The scammers use persuasive social engineering to manipulate drivers

If you’re ever called by one of these scammers, be careful because these guys know what they’re doing. What they’ll do is they’re going to pressure you into revealing your info and usually they play up to your vanity or your strengths. They might say, “Hey, guess what? You’ve earned a bonus,” or “If you’ll help us,” or something like that, “you’ll be eligible for a bonus,” or “You’re one of the top drivers in your city and we’re going to reward you.” They do that to establish a little bit of trust, and now, you’re feeling good, right? You’re not thinking that you’re about to get scammed. You’re thinking that you’re actually going to make money, so these scammers are smart.

They may also say that, I’ve heard in some of these situations, they’ll say things like, “We’re calling to verify it’s you because we’ve gotten reports from riders that say you’re not the one driving your car.” Of course, you’re going to want to say, “Oh, no, no. That’s me. I want to prove to you guys now that it’s me.” All of this really, though, is designed to distract you and to get you to hand over your info. Do not fall for it. In many cases, Uber has refunded some of the money that’s been withdrawn from a scammed account, but they won’t do that every time and there’s definitely no guarantee. Uber has said that if this happens to you, don’t fall for it. You need to watch out for it, so I definitely think that you guys better watch out for these things.

Most of the time these scammers are trying to get access to your Instant Pay, which is dangerous, which is because they get a hold of your account, they can change your banking account info and instantly withdraw your day’s earning. Or maybe they’re trying to get access to your email. If they ask you for your Gmail password, and there’s a security question, they might be resetting the password on your account, and then, logging into your Gmail, and now, they can use that to access your Uber account.

If you are scammed, immediately contact Uber. You can call the 24/7 support line. It may even be a good thing to call the critical safety response line if you’re getting scammed. Let them know what happened with as much detail as possible. Then, of course, change your passwords, contact your bank to see if there’s anything funny, and maybe change your passwords there.

Hopefully, this video helps, and if you guys do have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you. Take care!

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